Henry Winkler in Berlin
I have so often read on the article of NT comments about Nazis, that sometimes to me, it seems that people have grown numb to the horrors of the real Nazis. The real Nazis left devestion behind, They left broken families, and even survivors lost a big part of themselves in those camps.
So when I saw this video from the TV show, "Better Late Than Never", it really touched me, as the emotions were raw and real as Henry Winkler came to terms with his families losses. Please watch the video and think about the next time you feel tempted to throw around the word Nazi. I
I often watch documentaries on the nazis and the holocaust that shake me to my very core.
And it should if you have a soul. You obviously have a soul.
I just watched "Playing for Time" with Vanessa Redgrave on Netflix, about 4 times... Soul-searing movie, and it doesn't even depict the worst. I doubt I could go to Auschwitz, either. The weight of the souls murdered there would be too difficult to live through.
Great movie... haunting.
I just watched that one, Dowser. It is a very sad movie.
There's lots of documentaries on the Holocaust on Netflix. I wish they would get that mini-series that showed back in the late 70's called "The Holocaust" I would like to watch that again
Me, too, dear Trout. That movie gave me nightmares, but it was a definite eye-opener.
I was just a teenager when that aired and it made quite an impression on me.
I had just graduated from college, and it left a HUGE impression on me. The sad part is, it was somewhat watered down as to the horridness. I remember, at the time, that many people felt it didn't accurately portray the holocaust. I found it horrifying!
While in Germany on Vacation in 1988, I went to a Concentration Camp. It left me shaken to my very core. To be able to see, up cloe, with my own eyes, the things that man did to man all in the name of being a supposedly 'superior' race disgusdted me to no end. It left me saddened. I'm glad I went there, I don't ever want to go back. I agree with Perrie's thought-we throw the term 'Nazi' around far too freely, and we use it as a buzzword. It's not. It symbolizes the most base aspect of what man can do to man.
Totally agree Gary.
My Mother said my Father wasn't the same when he returned from fighting in Europe during WWII, it wasn't until I was in my twenty's that I found out why. He had been part of the 82nd, that had "liberated" parts of Germany from the SS after the war was over and, he had liberated a couple of Concentration camps before the war was over. The Hitler Youth had joined up with the SS at the end of the war and, were still fighting in some parts of Northern Germany and, my Father was part of a unit that was assigned the task of "cleaning" them out. One day they approached a farm house and, a sniper took a shot at them from a tree near the farm house hitting one of the men in Dad's unit, Dad fired back knocking the sniper out of the tree, when Dad got closer he took another shot to make sure and, then turned the sniper over, it was a twelve year old kid in an SS uniform. A month before that Dad had liberated a Concentration camp and, found kids there that were almost dead from starvation, he had pictures of the Concentration camp that he let me see, I never want to go to those places, even though some have been kept "alive" so, that people can see what happened there, I know what happened there, through my Dad.
Heartbreaking..
What a heartbreaking story. To carry the weight of killing an child enemy combatant and then see what that enemy did. Must have been overwhelming. I wonder what became of those children fighting at the end of the war. Did they grow up to have hate in their hearts from indoctrination, or despise the Nazis? Probably a bit of both I guess.
Perrie, I saw an interview with one of the people in the Nazi Youth program last year, he was grown and, had kids of his own, even grandkids but, he was in denial about what he had done under the program or, that anything was wrong with what was done in Hitler's name.
A great video, Perrie, thank you for sharing it with us. There are some who feel that throwing the word Nazi around sounds great, but, if their own family members had to live through what the Nazi's did during their reign of terror in the world, they might not be so quick to throw the word around so casually. Although, there are some who seem to prefer to ignore that such things ever happened, or simply call it a hoax. Hopefully, this video will give some reason to pause before they throw the word out and/or at others so casually.
It is my hope that everyone can relate to "The Fonz" and therefore make it more powerful for them. Thanks for the comment Raven.
indeed it was and is
I visited the wall as it was being torn down and still have pieces
I've been to Ann Franks house
perhaps arkpdx should as well
I thought it was a great moment in the show when their sidekick mentioned how he got to tell his family he'd slept with "The Fonz". I could watch those guys explore new places all day.
Tears to my eyes.
And yet another reason America does not need its own Berlin Wall.
And even yet one more reason that the event in Charlottesville must forever be repudiated with the most extreme prejudice.
And just where is this "American" Berlin Wall supposed to be?
OK can we not make this political you both. Thanks.
I found the events of Charlottesville deeply disturbing. That was true hate. It didn't have to have the word Nazi on the participants to know what their ideology would be.
What do nazis have to do,with the Berlin Wall?
Please no politics. Thank you.
I assume you replied to me by accident. I simply wanted clarification about why a reference to the Berlin Wall was included in response to an article about the Nazis, given that the two things have nothing to do with each other. Odd that you mistakenly pretty much pick the only non-political post in the thread to respond to, but everyone makes mistakes.
If you look around, i'm sure you'll agree that other posters are, in fact, making explicit political statements that too obvious to miss.
Sean,
I said this to the two other people above you here: 3.1.1 . I am not picking on you....
give it a break.
if you made an honest mistake, then that's what it was
Perrie accidentally replied to Sean's post (you can see it in the header to 3.3.1). Perrie corrected that in her comemnt back to Sean. You should probably butt out at this point, unless you are a new moderator or something.
I will answer your question. Had it not been for the Nazis and the degradation they brought, Germany would not have been occupied by foreign armies. The US, England, French and Russian. That is the answer to your question and the political differences of the occupying forces ultimately resulted in The Berlin Wall. This is well documented. One can read up on it if interested.
I did
you are the one extending nonsense on a serious thread
iF u wish to discuss with me, do it somewhere else pleas
As you posted nonsense, but once you are done, no more is allowed to be said, huh? BTW, seems English might be a second language for you. Might want to use spellcheck.
I see. So the appropriate response to viewing Mount Vernon is to reference the Berlin Wall. If not for George Washington, the Soviets wouldn't have built a wall to keep East Germans from fleeing their brutal socialist paradise.
When discussing the local gas station, it's appropriate to comment on the Berlin Wall, because without gasoline, the Allies wouldn't have won the War and the Soviets wouldn't have built a wall to keep East German Citizens from fleeing.
The Berlin Wall is always on topic!
No, the topic is Henry Winkler's video and what the real Nazis did. You want to talk about the Berlin wall, be my guest, but not on my article.
It is my humble opine comparisons to Nazis and Hitler are with a few exceptions vulgar, in vain and generally obscene.
Fascism, on the other hand, is real and cannot be ignored if it shows its ugly face merely to avoid some's sensitivities...
A personal pet peeve is when alt-righties will falsely equate fascism with socialism in general. With liberalism specifically.
Very true.
I agree. I think that when it comes to political terms, most people throw them around like they don't have specific meanings. To be fair, I have seen the right being called Nazis, too. Neither is correct.
Both Mrs. E. and I on each side of our respective families lost relatives to Russian pogroms, National Socialist concentration camps, and middle eastern wars, intifadas, and terrorist incidents.
Shedding the blood of Jewish People, minorities of every type through ethnic cleansing and other atrocities is not new, but still prevalent.
Using such sin to casually score political points should not be a part of this, or any other forum.
Standing up to evil, defeating it soundly should.
The difference between the two is not subtle or complex.
As a veteran of defense forces in two nations who saw combat for each multiple times, and a person who does all I can to promote peace and good will I ask all to join us in taking the high road in such matters.
Peace and Abundant Blessings Always.
Enoch.
I have told this story a few times. I was stationed in Germany in 1959. 14 short years after the war ended.
I took a trip to Dachau that same year. This was long before it became something of a tourist center.
I saw, first hand, the horror that was there, right before my eyes. I took some photos of the ovens, gallows. Those photos were put away and have only been taken out one time since. That was to teach a lesson to someone that didn't understand the horror of it all.
I watched the video and some of the corresponding videos in the series. I'm happy that Henry could go back and find what he found with friends to be there with him. And the letter his children wrote...It was all quite powerful.
Kavika,
I should have gone to the camp when I was in Munich, but I couldn't bring myself to going in there. I was afraid to hear the voices of those who died in there.
As for Henry, it was one of the most touching thing I have seen on TV. It was so honest and painful yet beautiful. I hope he got some closure from it.
Evening Kavika..Yes I to have been to Dachau..It is one of the most haunting places on this earth. You can feel the presence of the lost souls....There is no bird song, just barren vast waste land where the huts use to be. As you walk the crunch of the gravel is the only sound you hear...And the ghosts of the lost, walk beside you in silence.
Very powerful post shona. I feel guilty now for not going..
In doing my family research I came across a site called JewishGen. It is a very good, informative site. All the names, all the death, all the visions of the terrible things that happened there for no other reason but hate.
I sadly found 6 family members that were in The Dachau Concentration camp, 1 in Flossenburg and another in Natzweiler-Struthof.
Although I never knew them, they were my family and my heart breaks for them and all the other souls lost to the atrocities that occurred.
We must never forget!
Very well said, Enoch. My mom's family died in Auschwitz and my mom was born in a gulag in Siberia. They saw endless hate under the name of both the Nazis and the Communists. But one must remember that the Nazis learned from the Turks as the world looked away at the Armenian genocide. Hate is an ugly thing, and even uglier when people do nothing, when they know it is wrong.
Some people simply refuse, or perhaps, can not grasp the depth of Man's inhumanity to his fellow human beings in the name of their belief or ideology, or God, if they have never experienced anything like it themselves, or a close family member. It is easier to look the other way and pretend it didn't happen, or it wasn't as bad as those who know say it was. It somehow seems to make them feel safer in thinking it could never happen, or would not be that bad.
Willful ignorance for some may be a blessing, but, it takes away the reality of what could happen again if the world is not willing to admit that it did happen in the first place.
Just my own opinion.
me own that opinion as well
I wish a few others might have a tad more respect on a subject such as this
but, that is obviously expecting too much
It sure is and in all things. I make it a point to call it out for what it is as often as possible in here. Some folks just seem to find a way to justify it and use it so glibly you have to wonder how their souls got so dark.
It's very sad some feel a need to be that way.
Good opinion Raven. Man's inhumanity to man is shocking.
I don't get it either, Sparty. We all bleed red. We all want the same things out of life, yet we look for reasons to hate. Hard to figure out.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemoller
I'm so terribly sorry, dear Enoch. Words are inadequate to express my sympathy and sadness for you both.
Enoch,
Doesn't it say somewhere in the bible that if you save one man, you save the world?
Imagine if those who disagreed with the Nazis took that stand.
Evil flourishes when good people do nothing.
There were who did take that stand and they are heroes as far as I'm concerned. Schindler's List is based on one such man. He couldn't save all of them, tho
There were Trout. I have heard stories of people in Munich hiding Jews for the entire war and risking their own lives. But I also met other people who said they didn't know Dachau was there, while it was a mile from the city center. That blows my mind.
When Dad was stationed in Germany, we lived in "Private" quarters in a town called Phungstadt, major railroad hub. Our house was right across the street from the railroad tracks. As a kid, I used to "hitch" rides on the trains and was even unofficially adopted by a couple of the train engineers.
Phungstadt was one of the major loading points for the Jewish families being transported to the camps. Not once did any of the people that we got to know even mention their part in the history. Later, believe it was in the 60's/70's, the town erected a monument to the sadness of their actions and posted an apology.
My grandfather was part of the "clean-up crew" after the camps had been liberated. I think grandpap was at Dachau. He said you could smell the camps from 10 miles away and the citizens living there said they never knew anything was going on. He was pretty sure they were lying.
Just the stench of death would have been smelled from miles away
A Japanese diplomat saved thousands of Jews from the holocaust.
From your article. He was asked to resign by his government because he defied German laws. That's probably why nobody made a movie about him.
Sadly, your probably right Trout.
One of my uncles was with the 3rd Army, who were the forces that liberated most of the western camps. He didn't talk about it to me until I came back from my own war (those who have been there usually don't like to talk about it to those who haven't, especially not to children, for obvious reasons). When he did, he said, and this is confirmed in the history books, that General Patton rounded up the senior officials from the town nearest to Dachau, who said that they knew nothing about it, and forced them to go through the camp. After their "tour", the mayor and his wife went home and killed themselves. From what my uncle said, most of the soldiers there would have been happy to loan the mayor and wife, or any of the other officials, a pistol to do the job with.
I visited Dachau a long time ago when I was very young...only 17. My first thought when we arrived there was how did no one know?
My grandfather fought in ww2 also and my mother said he never talked about either.
I thought it was Eisenhower, but Patton works for me, too.
I don't know what division Grandpap was in. I could find out on ancestry.com I suppose
Lots of stories like that 1st, and that is what I found so shocking. But the Germans have actually dealt with what went on there and the younger generation won't even go there.
On the other hand, Austria never dealt with their complicity with the Germans and we met real Nazis everywhere when we were there skiing. Even the hotel had its original plack up of "Aryan Purity" I never felt so disgusted as I was when I was there. We cut our trip short and went back to Germany.
On a side note, since you brought up Austria, the Von Trap family decided after the war to sell their estate there and, they never returned, the last I heard of them they had a resort in Vermont.
Dear Friend Perrie: You find it in the Alenu prayer, said daily at least three times (more often on the Sabbath and other major holidays).
Tikun Olam literally means "Repair the World" .
An acceptable functional translation is "Construction for Eternity".
It depends on whether one uses the word Tikun or verb root stem Le Tahken.
Either way, the idea that if you save one it is as if you saved the whole world.
See the book Derech Ha Shem (The path of G-d) by Moshe Chaim Luzzato for a good exposition.
In Lurianic Kabbalism, the concept the living by the perfect, eternal, immutable and self fulfilling laws of the Torah and the Oral Tradition (Torah sheh beh Al Peh) lead to ethical and other compassionate acts. Tikun Olam connects theory to practice.
As you see in my columns a lot, the world improves one good deed at a time.
Good question.
Peace and Abundant Blessings to Us All in 2018.
May we have the opportunity and will to do Tikun Olam by any name in any approach to living life most abundantly, fully, ethically, humanely, and compassionately.
This old world could use some repairing.
Enoch, Putting on my construction hard hat.
Dearest Friend, Mentor and Cherished writing partner Enoch,
This part of your comment truly struck me, and it is very well stated and very true.
There are many ways people of the world could work to improve the would we all share, as we are all connected as human beings.
Tolerance, compassion, understanding, and a willingness to learn from others are only a few of the things that could help truly contribute to the healing and repair of our world. Humility, Harmony and Humanity are also at the top of the list that would help us all improve our world. Reaching out to one another in both heart and Spirit with a sincere desire to treat our fellow human beings, Mother Earth and all that dwells upon Her, with the same respect and civility that we wish for ourselves and those we love.
Our differences as human beings should not divide us, they should empower us to make the world a better place for those who will come after us.
We did not inherit the earth from our ancestors.......we borrowed it from our children, and generations to come.
Dear Sister Raven Wing: "We did not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrowed it from our children, and the generations to come."
Perfect.
Says it all!
We are indebted.
Each of us, in our own time, is charged with carrying forward the golden chain of traditions from past to future.
To forge our link in our days under our human conditions.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Our mission is to strengthen and lengthen the chain.
Part of that is to carry forward past wisdom, and make it relevant to today.
Part of that is to innovate, within the bounds of who we are, what we can do to add to the body of sagacity and tools to survive and thrive.
What is not sustainable must dry up and wither.
What is must be keep evergreen.
Enoch, Outside Watering My Ice, and Trimming my Hedges.
My uncle was a battalion level communications Sergeant. When he spoke about a senior officer, it would always have been Patton, since that was the one he knew about. Patton was much closer to the level of senior officer that the regular troops would have seen and known about. I doubt that he ever even saw Eisenhower, although there's no doubt that he was involved in that program too.
Thanks for this article, PH.
Your welcome MrFrost. When I saw it, I just had to share.
Great article and video! Thanks!
Your welcome, Dowser!
I have visited Anne Frank's home and Dachua. People calling Trump a Nazi every single day is amusing that they don't even realize what a Nazi is.
It only demeans and undermines the true horror. Walk around some graves as large as your home and maybe they wouldn't use Nazi so loosely.
I agree. I think that the term is way overused and so it dilutes it's true meaning.
I've been there also (to Anne Frank's place where her family hid). One hopes that we've progressed to where that can't happen in this day and age. Unfortunately, there are still places where man abuses man for whatever silly reason that they hang on to.
So that's not making a political statement but my comments directly addressing him were and had to be deleted?
People who haven't seen the movie The Pianist should find it and watch it. As a fictional film about the Holocaust and the oppression and eventual genocide against the Jewish population of Europe, it is right up there with Schindler's list, and even more intimate in it's depiction of the terror.
-
Moving scene for Winkler. Good seed Perrie.
Saw the movie and I vowed it would be the last Holocaust movie I would see, since it left me so shattered. I actually did see one more after that.. "Defiance". It was refreshing to see Jews not as victims but fighters. Another great movie.
and thanks John.
That is a good movie, too. There was another movie I watched called "Escape from Sobibor" where the Jewish inmates staged an uprising and escaped from the camp
Oh I never saw that one. Thanks for the info..
I loved that movie!
Although it is full of sub-titles this is a moving film.
That movie was also haunting... What a horrible turn of events! (at the end, I mean...)
Dear Friend Dowser: Agreed.
E.
Starring Rutgar Howard, one of my favorite actors...
I have to agree.
Dear Friend Dowser: Any one whose first screen name sounds like the state university of New Jersey is OK in my book.
E.
Actually, I'm having a bad spelling day... I think it's Rutger Hauer. He was in Blade Runner, many years ago!
Oh, my....
Dear Friend Dowser: Rutger is even better.
It is one "s" away from Rutgers, the N.J. State University.
From the time I was in Jr. H.S. (now they call it Middle School) through H.S. I took college undergraduate and graduate courses for credit at Rutgers, Newark NJ.
Its a fine institution of higher learning.
The public transit bus from where I lived to the campus was spotless once every other year.
A true bargain at half the price.
Enoch, Fumbling for bus fare ticket correct change to this day.
I used to go to Rutgers University web pages about plants a lot... It is a great school!
He is a good actor and I think a good man. He has often played a German Jewish man, or been a soldier or played the part that stands up for the Jews. He played an inspector, (policeman), in Fatherland, who was ferreting out why old Nazis were being killed. Turns out, they were all a part of the Wanassee committee that discussed the Final Solution. I think he's a great guy!
He's played some baddies, too. I like him better when he plays the good guy, tho
Loved him in Blade Runner, he made his character believable as a "clone" that wanted to continue to live.
He improvised the "teardrops in the rain" monologue.
Me, too, Trout!
Great movie, but it is based on an actual person.
I love "Better Late Than Never". When this aired last week, it hit a nerve. Especially when he read the letter from his kids. It's very fortunate that he was able to visit that marker and address and know what happened. There are many who never have had that kind of closure.
Hi Jeremy,
It is a great show, and actually shows how 4 old men of totally different backgrounds can come together in brotherhood and fun. That was such a touching scene. It was a gift to have that kind of closure. It never came to many in my mom's family.
I'm a Terry Bradshaw fan. Ever since he played for the Steelers. To watch him and William Shatner go at it is just hilarious. Two completely opposing personalities and they make it entertaining. George Foreman and Henry Winkler seem to ALWAYS have a smiles on their faces.
Like I said. It really hit when he just let his emotions loose. Not a side that a lot of us see especially from somebody like him.
I really hope you and your family can get some kind of closure.
You have to love Terry. He is a wildman. And him with Shatner is priceless. And you are right about George and Henry. They seem like such nice men.. just regular folk.
And thanks for your kind words. I doubt it will happen, since those who went through the war, are very damaged. There was a documentary about the kids of Holocaust survivors. We all had a strange lives, but thought it was just our families, while it wasn't. I was lucky that my dad was very stable with strong roots here in America. It helped my mom, too.
I don't watch much network TV so i've never seen it. Sounds like i gotta watch it.
When is it on?
I don't think of them as "strange lives". Unique, I think would best explain it. The experiences your (and millions of others) have I find very intriguing. For me there is no better display of determination, will power and love than that that is found within families like yours. You cannot find that combination too often.
We always hear from the Soldiers who fought during that time. Thousands of Soldiers come home and told their stories. When it comes to the experiences of families like your's we don't hear from those that have been through it as often as we should. Sounds like your father is a perfect example of the display of determination, will power and love that I mentioned. He took care his family in a new country after those horrors, I can only hope that he's had at least a chance to tell his story so others can have an idea of what to look for in order to prevent it from happening again.
It's on NBC I think on Monday nights. You should watch it. One of the nicer TV shows on. These guys are the best!
Hi Jeremy,
I think you misunderstood. My mom is a survivor, my dad's family has been in the US since 1864. My great granddad fought in the Civil War. Ironically, my dad's family is from Germany and my maiden name is Berlin. He's even 1/4 Canarsie Indian.
I have to agree with your sentiments about family being at the core of healing, although I can tell you, that in my family, members never healed. The trauma of what man can do to man leaves the soul with a big hole that is hard to repair. That is why my mom was so lucky to have met my dad. He is the most steadfast person I have ever known. And although he didn't go through what she did, he knew how to even out the rough patches. My aunt was not as lucky and battled mental illness her whole life. It didn't help that she married an Auschwitz survivor.
If you are curious about the children of Holocaust survivors here is short video that is part of a much larger documentary
The better one is this one:
Breaking the Silence:
The Generation After the Holocaust
I really did misunderstand. I'm sorry.
I think I can understand that. Fortunately she met a man that, obviously, was willing to stand by her side and help her in any way he could.
I'm sorry to hear about your aunt. Although I wouldn't discount being married to another survivor. They have a shared experience that was very hard to handle and they tried to help each other through. I'm pretty sure everybody, that knows her history, would not place any blame on her or your uncle.
Perrie, words cannot express my sorrow at what your family went through. I'm so very sad and sorry for your losses!
The ugliness of the past, horrific as it can be, should always be held in the forefront, in that manner perhaps we shall not repeat it.
If only.
Agreed.
Those ignorant of the past are destined to repeat it. Discrediting the media and the rise of an authoritarian ruler are elements to fear. I once found myself completely alone inside the concentration camp Terrazin in the Czech Republic, while not as well known as Dachau and others it shared the same depravity and horror and the atmosphere wore it like a shroud. Seeing photographs of executed prisoners hanging in a spot a few feet away made it ever so real. Those that believe such things can never happen again fail to appreciate the ability of human determination and the evil that's some possess. Ignorance and apathy are the greatest enemy.
Sadly it continues to this day, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Burma (need I continue?).
Mans inhumanity to man, it seemingly knows no limits.
We would all be better off abdicating authority to canines, at least they do not eat their own as a rule.
I think it could happen again, since human nature is human nature. We must stay ever vigilant.
I am really annoyed that my article went political, especially since I warned so many times NOT for it to go political. All those comments were removed.
There is only one thing I want to address, that I saw in removing the comments and that was about how the Nazis felt about Jews. They didn't think of them as a religion. They thought of the Jews as an inferior race. In fact, it didn't even matter if they converted to Christianity, they were to be eradicated.
Let's face it Perrie, it was all an excuse for the failure of the German economy and, the restrictions put on Germany at Versailles, the armistice was a joke and, the joke was on the German people at the time, they couldn't get their economy back up and, running under the restrictions and, Hitler saw a chance to blame someone for it, someone he didn't like to begin with, the Jews. The German people wanted someone to blame and, he gave them the perfect thing or, group, to blame, most Germans at the time thought that the Jews felt they were superior to them and, they, being from "Arian" blood KNEW they were better but, no one in the government was agreeing with them, until Hitler came along.
We really don't know the German mindset was at the time towards their Jews. Jews in Europe didn't have such a easy time in general. The fact that it was so easy for Hitler to get Germans at the time to buy into the propaganda means to me, that there must have been an under current at the time.
It's a similar mindset today Perrie, the invisible "They" or, "Them", we see it here on NT all the time, it's the Liberals fault, no, it's the Conservatives fault, no, it's immigration, yada, yada. Once you give someone who is scared or, mad a target they take the target you've given them and, run with it. That is why I use the Trump cartoon with the waving arms, he's pointing to targets for his base to run with. Hitler picked the Jews, Gypsy's and, Gays, along with any union he could think of as his targets for the German's to focus on while he did his dirt.
They had been persecuted for centuries and were accused of poisoning wells during the black death in the mid 1300's which led to a mass slaughter of German Jews. The end of the 15th century was a period of religious hatred that ascribed to Jews all possible evils. The violence and atrocities of the Khmelnytsky uprising by the Cossacks (1648, in the Ukrainian part of southeastern Poland) drove the Polish Jews back into western Germany. With Napoleon's fall in 1815, growing nationalism resulted in increasing repression and many German States stripped Jews of their civil rights which led many to emigrate. During the period from 1918 to 1924 the German mark suffered hyperinflation. It caused considerable internal political instability in the country, the occupation of the Ruhr by foreign troops as well as misery for the general populace. The German mark went from about a 4.2 exchange rate to the US dollar to 48 marks to the dollar by 1919 and up to 90 marks per dollar by 1921. The London Ultimatum in May 1921, demanded WWI reparations which caused the German mark to further erode rising to 330 German marks to the dollar.
In 1928 the Nazi party only numbered 130,000 members but after 1929 when the stock market crashed and the Germans were experiencing their own Great Depression, the Nazi party began to gain strength with their populist message and blaming the Jews and other immigrants for their financial turmoil and gained a following as they promised to make Germany great again. An unprecedented amount of money was thrown behind the Nazi campaign and well over one million pamphlets were produced and distributed; sixty trucks were commandeered for use in Berlin alone. In the 1930 election the Nazis got 6.4 million votes becoming the 2nd largest party in Germany. By January 1933, only about 522,000 Jews lived in Germany. Over half (about 304,000) emigrated during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship leaving roughly 214,000 Jews by 1937. In 1936, Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from participating in education, politics, higher education, and industry. So it's safe to say the German people were steeped in a deep anti-Semite mind set that went back far longer than the 1930's, the Nazis just capitalized on the anti-Semitism which made the Jews an easy target for their anger and frustration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_rise_to_power#Seizure_of_control_(1931–1933)
there is something wrong, when igkorantzrulz ( my former moniker Lewinsky ) suddenly seems to be the voice of
reason.
I did my best to respect your wishes that said
I realize the points some were attempting, rater convincingly, to make
but
I also realized your wish/command
There are so many damn articles where these points are valid, why not be respectful of seeders wishes, and not post them here....
I can't answer that one, but I do appreciate your efforts here and elsewhere, like on Frosty's music thread, where we as posters can find some actual common ground and humanize those who we treat inhumanely at times, while professing our thoughts and biased beliefs (on ALL sides)
It is just human nature, and unfortunately so are the actions your seed exposes.
Well that's my piece, you can do with it what you must,
out
I happen to agree David. Your post is fine. Thank you.
to me, that is often a badge of honor
we don't always agree, but believe we were in agreement on this one
don' be so sensitive, take it for what it is, an anonymous web sight unseen, and nothing else
have a most pleasant evening now